Its major cities
are Phoenix,
Tucson, Yuma
and Flagstaff.
Besides the Grand Canyon, a number of other National Forests, Parks,
Monuments and Indian reservations are located in the state.

Historians disagree
about the origin of the name "Arizona" and its attachment to the region.
Three possible derivations are:

Spanish derivative,
"arizonac", of the Pima or Papago word "al shon" or "aleh zon" meaning
little or young spring.

Spanish words
"árida zona" meaning arid zone

Aztec word "arizuma"
meaning silver bearing

Arizonac is a small
town about eight miles south of the United States-Mexican border. Its
name was probably derived from the Pima or Papago name for the place.
In 1736 a small silver-mining camp called "Real Arissona" by the Spanish
was established near the town. Later in the mid 18th century Spanish
missionaries changed Father Eusebio Francisco Kino's maps of the area;
they renamed the town Arizonac as Arizona. As the maps were republished
and circulated in Europe, the name Arizona became attached to the whole
northern part of New Spain.

History

Beyond its original
native inhabitants, Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan, explored the area
in 1539. Coronado's expedition entered the area in 1540-42 during its
search for Cibola. Father Kino developed a chain of missions and taught
the Indians Christianity in Pimería Alta (now southern Arizona
and northern Sonora) in the 1690's and early 1700's. Spain founded fortified
towns (presidios) at Tubac
in 1752 and Tucson
in 1775. All of what is now Arizona
became part of Mexico's northwest frontier upon the Mexican assertion
of independence from Spain in 1821. The United
States took possession of most of Arizona
at the end of the Mexican War in 1848. In 1853 the land below the Gila
River was acquired from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase. Arizona
was administered as part of the Territory of New Mexico until it was
organized into a separate territory on February 24, 1863.

At the direction
of Brigham Young, Mormons came from Utah
in the mid to late 1800s to the Phoenix
Valley (or "Valley of the Sun"), Mesa,
Tempe, Prescott,
Snowflake,
Heber and many
other Arizona towns to settle
there. One of the first Latter-day Saint temples built in the Southwest
was the Mesa temple, finished in 1927.

Law and Government

Arizona's legislature
consists of a thirty-member Senate and a 60-member House of Representatives.
The majority party is the Republican party, which has held power since
1950. The 2002 budget of the Arizona state legislature was $14.3 billion,
while the executive budget was $13.8 billion. Besides the money spent
on state agencies, money has also been allocated for tax cuts, pay raises
for government employees, and health insurance for government employees.
The executive budget has allocated money to previously passed legislation.
Arizona state senators and representatives are elected for two year
terms and there are no terms limits. However, no more than four terms
may be served consecutively.

Arizona's executive
branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term. The governor
may serve any number of terms, though no more than two in a row. The
current Governor of Arizona
is Janet Napolitano, a Democrat. She has been governor since 2003. Napolitano
was born in New York City, moving to Arizona
after graduating from law school in 1983, whereupon she clerked for
a U.S. Appeals Court judge before joining a Phoenix law firm. She became
a partner in 1989. She was appointed United States Attorney for the
District of Arizona by President Bill Clinton in 1993. In 1998, Napolitano
was elected as the first female Attorney General by Arizona voters.
During this time, she prosecuted a number of cases -- many backlogged
-- and established herself in the eyes of many voters as a guardian
of children, the elderly, women, and the environment.

The two Arizona
US Senators are Senator John McCain (Republican) and Senator Jon Kyl
(Republican). Arizona's representatives in the United States House of
Representatives are Rick Renzi (R-1), Trent Franks (R-2), John Shadegg
(R-3), Ed Pastor (D-4), J.D. Hayworth (R-5), Jeff Flake (R-6), Raul
Grijalva (R-7), and Jim Kolbe (R-8). Arizona
gained two seats in the House of Representatives due to redistricting
based on Census 2000.

Geography

Like other states
of the Southwest, Arizona
has an abundance of topographical characteristics in addition to its
desert climes. More than half of the state features mountains and plateaus
and contains the largest stand of Ponderosa pine in the United
States. The Mogollon Rim, a 2000-foot escarpment, cuts across the
central section of the state and marks the southwestern edge of the
Colorado Plateau, where the state experienced its worst forest fire
ever in 2002.

Economy

Early in its history,
Arizona's economy relied on the "five C's": copper, cotton, cattle,
citrus and climate (i.e., tourism). At one point Arizona
was the largest producer of cotton in the country. Copper is still found
in abundance from many of its small mining towns. (See, for instance,
Bisbee, Ajo
or Globe.) While
the state government itself is the state's largest employer, Wal-Mart
is the state's largest private employer with 17,343 employees in 2003.
Arizona lost much of its
advantage as a high-technology industry leader between 1990 and 2001,
according to a state Department of Commerce (http://www.commerce.state.az.us/)
report. In 2001, 161,166 Arizonans were employed in the high-tech sector,
accounting for about 8.3 percent of total private-sector employment
of more than 1.9 million. High-tech payroll in 2001 was $2.2 billion,
or 14.7 percent of the private-sector total. High-tech employment was
led by software and computers, with 34,314; electronics components manufacturing,
30,358; aerospace manufacturing, 25,641; architectural and engineering
services, 21,378; telecommunications, 21,224; and instruments manufacturing,
13,056.

Demographics

Population Breakdown:

White: 75.5%
(Not of Hispanic Origin: 63.8)

Native: 5.0

African American:
3.1

Asian: 1.8

Hawaiian or Pacific
Islander: 0.1

Other Race: 11.6

Persons reporting
two or more races: 2.9%

According to 2003
Census esimates, Arizona
has the second highest number of the 2,752,158 Native Americans in the
country with over 10% of the country's total at 286,680. It is preceded
by California at 410,501
and followed by Oklahoma
at 278,124

Notable People

Famous Arizonans
also include Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, author Zane
Grey, former Governor and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, architect
Frank Lloyd Wright, Presidential candidate and former Senator Barry
Goldwater and former Solicitor General Rex E. Lee . From the rock and
roll world, both Alice Cooper and Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac are
from Phoenix.

Colleges and Universities

State
universities

Community
colleges

Private
colleges and trade schools

Arizona
State University

Phoenix
Community College

American
Graduate School of International Management

University
of Arizona

Glendale
Community College

American
Indian College of the Assemblies of God

Northern
Arizona University

Mesa
Community College

DeVry
University, Phoenix

Scottsdale
Community College

Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University

Pima
Community College

Grand
Canyon University

Eastern
Arizona College

Prescott
College

Yavapai
Community College

Southwestern
College

Rio
Salado Community College

University
of Phoenix

Prescott
College

Western
International University

Education
associations

Cochise
College

Arizona
Music Educators Association

South
Mountain Community College

Arizona
Western College

Professional sports teams

Arizona Diamondbacks
(Major League Baseball)

Arizona Cardinals
(National Football League)

Phoenix Suns
(National Basketball Association)

Phoenix Mercury
(Women's National Basketball Association)

Phoenix Coyotes
(National Hockey League)

Tucson Sidewinders
(minor league baseball)

Spring training

Arizona
is a popular location for Major League Baseball spring training. The
state hosts the following major league teams (called the Cactus league)
for spring training:

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